A DOG FOR THE FAMILY

Vital Tips For Managing Your Dog

The first and most important thing to insure harmony and make like
easier for you and your new dog is
Housebreaking and Potty Training Made Simple. Puppies HATE it when they piddle and the puddle wets their
feet! Now you know why they use your carpet but grass or dirt works
the same way... Depending on puppy's size, provide absorbent pee-pee papers (not newspaper)
until he is old enough to hold overnight and between outings.
insert patio and hi-rise rooftop potty place
PHOTOS The most important thing you can do in those first
few days - Keep your new puppy in a crate or on a leash attached to YOU
so he can't piddle when you aren't looking. He will be house
trained in no time and you will thank TheDogPlace.org for the short
article above. It makes an odorous chore quick and EASY!

Choke
collars can hang on an object and choke your dog if you're not there
to save him. Choke collars should only be used for training and
then removed when dog is unattended. Combination
“safe choke” collars can serve as everyday-wear. If properly adjusted, they cannot strangle but
will tighten just
enough so that the dog can’t slip out of his collar.

Your puppy's neck will grow. The
collar will not. Hundreds of dogs are lost yearly from skin infections,
even collar strangulation due to owner neglect.

Never exercise your dog on a full stomach, it can
cause deadly gastric torsion (bloat). If your dog's tummy looks really
"bloated" and he is showing signs of distress, he may have gastric
torsion which can be fatal within the hour. Get him to the vet
immediately. Common sense: Carnivores chase their prey (exercise), then eat, then sleep while
digesting the meal. Another tip: make sure your dog gets daily exercise so that
his elimination system is stimulated. Constipation can be a chronic canine condition.

Dog Safe Fruits and Veggies? Yes! Dogs usually welcome (or learn to love) fresh fruits. When you are eating, offer him a small bite of your apple, green
grapes, even a banana! All dogs love cooked carrots in "dog stew"
(meat, green beans or peas, broccoli, tomato, celery, apples, etc.) and
puppies can be given a chilled raw carrot as a healthy teething
toy.

We invented the term Dog Talk in 1995. If people
understood dog-language as easily as dogs understand people-language, can
you imagine the wonderful things we might learn? Dogs are not multi-lingual
but they
understand “Good Boy” and “baaaad dog” in every language!
They understand the tone of your voice and quickly associate it with
your words.

Do you know
as many dog-sounds as he knows people-sounds such as “go, car,
hungry, eat,
cat, outside, keys, or bed”? Can you
relate to the sounds your dog makes when he is happy, bored, sad, or
distressed? He knows the
sound of the refrigerator, doorbell or YOUR car.

Dr. Lee, PhD examines the God Myth in Is "D-O-G" really G-O-D spelled backwards? The role dogs played in ancient times, from the Anubis to King James is
fascinating! Is it because of
the dog's limitless love, ready forgiveness, and endless acceptance of
man's shortcomings?

Jumping Up (or down). Do not let your dog jump down
from high places like a grooming table or your bed, particularly in close quarters. The force of landing steeply on his
forequarters can cause injury to a dog's cervical disks.

And of course, don't let him learn to jump up on
you. Muddy paw prints, torn hose, trip and fall accidents, and overall
annoyance outweigh the flattery of his love for you. Depending on the
dog's size, as he jumps up to paw at you, bump him (hard!) with your knee to his
chest, aim a boot to the belly, step on his back toes, or quickly sweep
the back legs out from under the dog. None of these instant
thought-out-in-advance reaction by you should be too hard for that dog's size
and personality. Toy breeds require good aim on your part because they
tend to dance around more but a well placed, abrupt "shove" with your toes will
usually suffice IF IT IS CONSISTENT.

In all
training corrections, be swift and consistent. If you're too slow, the dog
will not associate your action with what he just did. If you let him
do it this time and then correct him next time, that is cruel because
your goal is to stop the behavior quickly and just forcefully enough to make the
point.

Large dogs and those with short noses suffer
more from high temperatures than from cold. The dog's body temperatures
is 3 degrees higher than ours. If your flat-faced breed gets
overheated and struggles for breath, wipe the phlegm from his mouth and
nasal passages, soak him with cold water, and rush him to the vet.
Heat Stoke Symptoms and Prevention - don't wait until it is an emergency.

Another tip: Dogs require
large amounts of water in hot weather. Provide more than one source of of fresh water
... and be sure there are no deodorizers or cleaners in the toilet because if he
can reach it, he'll drink from the always cool, always clean "bowl."

Small, short coated dogs can become
easily chilled as they have a different metabolism than large
breeds. A little sweater for outside winter walks will keep him
happy.

Cut Those Toenails! If your dog is inside on
carpet, his nails are probably too long and will cause his toes to become
deformed and arthritic. There are special tools to cut or file his nails
or if you're chicken, have the vet tech show you how.

If your dog tends to tear a lot, have
his eyes checked, keep them clean, and use a tear-stain remover
under the eyes.

Check your dog's ears, eyes, and mouth
weekly to detect grass seeds, ear mites, ticks, or other harmful but
easily overlooked foreign objects. If he has trouble eating, chewing
a bone, or swallowing, take him to the vet!

Drop-eared dogs are prone to ear
infections. Be sure to check the ears regularly and keep them clean,
dry, and free of wax build-up.

Dominant
Dog Problems Do not ever let a dog growl or snap at
a family member even if they are teasing the dog. Make the
person and the dog stop their stupid behavior! Dog attacks on humans
are so rare as to be newsworthy and so, apparently, is the fact that 99%
of all dog bites are preventable. There is always a reason
why dogs bite back and it can have as much to do with training as it
does with the breed of dog a family chooses. Did you know that
auto injuries vastly exceed dog bite statistics even though you have to
have a license to drive?

Here are some basic owner guidelines that
apply to all dogs. Never let your dog dart through an outside
door ahead of you. He should always show deference to the pack
leader and that is you. Even small dogs understand rank. Dogs do learn from each other and that
can be a good or a bad thing depending on the dominant dog's level
of obedience. Pay attention to the interaction between them. A clever owner will help the older or
more dominant dog "teach" the new dog how to fit into the family
in mannerly, acceptable ways.

Kids
and Dogs were made for each other but do not ever leave a young child alone
with any dog, large or small. Toddlers poke at people and dogs.
We know of a dog that was blinded in one eye by a toddler who jabbed into the
fascinating eyeball. Which breeds
are best with children? Unlike most
lists of dog breeds for the family, we explain WHY some breeds are better suited
for kids. Youngsters can innocently hurt a dog or conversely,
the child can be knocked down or injured by a dog.

Itching, scratching, allergies? Are
among the most common reasons dogs are taken to the vet and we hate to say it
but heartworm prevention medications are one of the main reasons dogs itch or
develop immune system problems.